ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG

Newhaven and Peacehaven heights

By Sylvia Woolford

I walk my dog regularly on the cliff tops between Newhaven and Peacehaven and watched the development of the Barrow dig (as you will see from the photos). I also managed to speak with Susan Birks a volunteer from Brighton and Hove Archaeological Society. A group of volunteers have now finished the dig for this year, but will hopefully return sometime in the spring.

If you wish to find out more, then please visit the website: www.msfat.com

Sylvia Woolford

Press release from Susan Birks:

Press release ref: PB excv 1

Issued: 18.10.2007

Archaeologists aim to uncover secrets of Peacehaven's Bronze Age barrow before it goes to watery grave

Archaeologists have been given a rare opportunity to excavate a possible Bronze Age round barrow situated in a dramatic cliff edge location on Peacehaven Heights, before it and all its secrets are lost to the sea through cliff erosion.

The barrow, now lying perilously close to the edge of the cliff at Peacehaven Heights, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The pace of coastal erosion means it is likely that the barrow will be unsafe to access within the next 10 years and it will probably disappear altogether within the next 20-50 years.

Having acquired all the necessary permissions, including that of English Heritage and the landowner, a group of volunteer archaeologists from Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society and the Mid Sussex Field Archaeological Team are hoping to discover when it was built, by who and for whom.

Two-week long preliminary excavations were carried out between September 9-23rd, and have already revealed tantalising clues to its construction and history. The group hopes to return in the Spring to continue the excavations.

Archaeologist Susan Birks, project leader of last month's excavation, said: "This is a rare opportunity to get an insight into and to record a funerary monument built by our ancestors probably some 4000 years ago. Most barrows are either totally ploughed-out so that little evidence remains or are regarded as "not under threat" so permission to excavate is withheld indefinitely until better technologies are available.

"Because the coast is eroding, we have a once in a life-time opportunity to excavate a still existing mound to find out whether it is a barrow, to date its origin, record its construction, and look for any evidence suggesting local settlement or land use contemporary with its construction."

The volunteer archaeologists are not the first to dig into this 1m high ancient monument, however. The mound is mentioned in a list of Sussex barrows, compiled by a man called Grinsell in the 1930s (Grinsell, L.V., Sussex Archaeological Collections, 75 p217-274). He described the 17m-wide barrow as being in a "rather dilapidated" condition back then. That could be as a result of previous excavation by Victorian antiquarians. Fragments of clay pipe found in the recent excavations may, once dated by the experts, confirm the presence of Victorian grave robbers.

The recent excavations also confirmed that the barrow was dug into during the Second World War by soldiers, tasked with defending the, once adjacent but now demolished, radar station.

Susan Birks added: "We have uncovered two World War 2 slit trenches that were dug through the centre and into the side of the barrow, these were lined with corrugated iron and probably used by soldiers to defend the coast and adjacent radar station against potential enemy attack."

"Unfortunately, the soldiers or the Victorians may have destroyed or removed any evidence of a burial or grave that may have existed in the centre of the mound. Not all barrows have them. Alternatively we may yet find it intact."

It is early days but, so far, a small amount of ancient pottery along with pieces of charcoal have been found deep inside the barrow and these artefacts could help in dating the mound. There is also speculation that the mound was once covered in flint debris as a means of making it stand out against the landscape when viewed from a distance. The flint debris appears to have been left over from the making of the stone tools that formed the every day tool kit of our Bronze Age ancestors.

Soil samples collected will be sieved and analysed for other clues such as small animal bones, pollen, charred grains or charcoal that may give further insight to what our ancestors were eating and farming.

Once the excavations have been completed, the barrow will be reinstated as it was, and the results will be collated into a report for dissemination to archaeological and local societies, as well as ESCC and English Heritage. Any finds will be donated to the Brighton & Hove Museum.

These excavations have been made possible through funding, grants and equipment given by: the Mid Sussex Archaeological Field Team; Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society; English Heritage; University of Sussex CCE; Sussex Archaeological Society and Dave Cudmore Archaeological Supplies.

The excavations are being carried out by local volunteers from BHAS & MSFAT and the project leader, Susan Birks, who is currently undertaking a part-time MA in Field Archaeology at the University of Sussex, is working under the directorship of MSFAT director Chris Butler (MIFA) and BHAS past president John Funnel.

Anyone interested in more information or joining future excavations should contact Susan Birks on Tel 01403 241550 or mobile 07964262933 or e-mail sbirks@wilmington.co.uk or visit the MSFAT and B&HAS websites at www.msfat.com or www.brightonarch.org.uk

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